‘We distanced ourselves from London but bodies still turn up’

Farooq Sattar speaks for 'missing' MQM workers, says justice must be served

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-Pakistan) head Farooq Sattar has claimed that during the course of the Karachi operation, since September 2013, around 130 party workers have gone missing while 63 have been killed.

The families of missing MQM workers visit morgues often to find their loved ones, he lamented.



He was speaking to the media while attending the funeral of a party worker, Abdul Navid, whose body was found on September 30 near Thatta. The body remained with the Edhi Foundation until Sunday, when the deceased's family visited the Sohrab Goth morgue and identified it.

The party claimed that Navid was picked up by law enforcement agencies from his residence in September 2015 and was missing until his body was discovered.

"We condemn this killing. If the Rangers claim that they did not pick him up then they must at least tell us who did, it is their responsibility as they are spearheading the 'targeted operation'," demanded Sattar.

Lamenting that this is not the first such incident, he said if the murderers are beyond the reach of the criminal justice system or the law enforcers, the law should be amended to allow the heirs to find the culprits themselves.



"Even though we have detached ourselves from [MQM] London, the number of bodies has not stopped," Sattar said, demanding that this must stop while room to render a peaceful political struggle should be given to the party.

He asserted that the party workers held in 'fake' cases should be given the right to a fair trial and those missing must be recovered. "We guarantee that they will not take part in any political activity once recovered."

The MQM-Pakistan head remarked that the party is moving petitions in the Sindh High Court against these abductions and extrajudicial killings but if this [kill-and-dump policy] continued then they would approach the Supreme Court to seek justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2016.